Press Statement By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Komtar, George Town On 4.1.2017.

No Wonder Malaysia’s Economy Is In A State Of Crisis If We Are Led By Dummies Pretending To Know Accounting Or Malaysians Facing A Water Rationing Crisis With Syarikat Perkhidmatan Air Negara(SPAN) Led By Liang Teck Meng!

No wonder Malaysia’s economy is in a state of crisis if we are led by dummies pretending to know accounting or Malaysians facing a water rationing crisis with Syarikat Perkhidmatan Air Negara(SPAN) led by Liang Teck Meng! I had wanted to ignore Gerakan Secretary-General and MP for Simpang Renggam Liang Teck Meng for his childish and irresponsible statement questioning Penang’s undoubted success in recording annual budget surpluses, with total accumulated surplus of RM574 million since 2008.

However I feel duty-bound to expose Liang’s wild lies and school him to the truth of the state government’s factual figures, fully supported by the certification of the Auditor-General’s annual reports. Hopefully Liang can be schooled to understand some basic accounting principles.

One, Liang is confused between the accounts of the Penang state government, Penang Development Corporation(PDC), local authorities Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang and Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai. These are different and separate accounts and cannot be mixed up together as one. Liang mixes them up to try to claim that the state government sold more land than the RM 658 million recorded since 2008. Mixing them up is wrong and the Auditor-General separates them just as the Federal government accounts are separated from TNB, PNB or Tabung Haji.

Two, Liang cannot blindly include the sale of assets belonging to PDC as part of the state government’s revenue. Doing so is wrong when the assets do not belong to the state government unless Liang wants to invent a new system of accounting understood only by him.

Three, Liang claimed that the state government sold Bayan Mutiara state land and land reclamation rights in 2011 for RM1.07 billion, but why only RM658 million was recorded for the period between 2008-2015. I had explained many times that full payment was not paid in 2011 but paid progressively over a period of 6 years. Final payment will only be made by 10.11.2017 . Clearly Liang does not understand the difference between cash and accrual system of accounting.

Four, Liang questioned how the state government can still record a surplus when our annual operating spending now has jumped three-fold from RM283 million in 2008. Liang should be praising us for our success in still recording a surplus despite our spending increasing by 3 times due clearly to CAT administration of competency, accountability and transparency. Cost containment is achieved through open competitive tender that gives us the best pricing, efficiency savings and clean leadership where public money is not stolen through corruption scandals like BN. There are no RM52 billion 1MDB or USD 1 billion donation scandals in Penang. Penang state government’s revenue are fees and quit rent based on land. It is shocking that BN leaders can be so ignorant as to ask whether assessment rates are included when that is collected throughout Malaysia by local governments MBPP or MPSP. Penang’s annual budget surplus is unquestioned and an undoubted fact, when it is certified by the annual Auditor-General Reports. Or is Liang even questioning the veracity of the Auditor-General Reports in his desperate attempt to frame up the state government?

Five, Liang explained that the BN state government sold 36 times more land(3,661 acres) than the present state government(106.1 acres) but yet received less money(BN’s RM1,058 million compared to Pakatan’s RM1,110 million) because the BN state government was selling both land and land reclamation rights whereas Pakatan was only selling land. This is untrue because Bayan Mutiara land sold by the present state government involved both land and land reclamation rights. Land reclamation rights at Bayan Mutiara was sold at RM 240 per square feet by the present state government through open competitive tender whereas Tanjung Pinang land reclamation rights was sold by BN at only RM 1 per square feet because there was no open competitive tender.

I wish to assert that Penang would have recorded RM1,074 million in accumulated surplus since 2008 if RM500 million had not been allocated for the Public & Affordable Housing Fund. This RM500 million Public & Affordable Housing Fund was taken out of the RM658 million in land sales by the state government, clearly showing that land sales was not the reason for the annual surpluses of the state government.

Since 2008, Penang has recorded accumulated budget surpluses of RM574 million over the last 8 years, which is more than what BN achieved over the last 50 years they ruled Penang from 1957-2007 of RM373 million. The Penang state government received a total revenue of RM4,947 million since 2008. Land sales revenue since 2008 amounted to RM658 million or 13% of the total revenue of RM4,947 million.

Out of the land sales revenue of RM658 million, the state government had allocated RM500 million for the Public and Affordable Housing Fund to build low cost, low-medium cost and houses below RM300,000/-. In other words, since 2008 only RM158 million was available as contribution towards accumulated surplus of RM574 million, and towards establishing a welfare state where over RM400 million has been paid out as cash payments to 1.6 million Penangites and schools. Or hundreds of millions of ringgit for development purposes to build public infrastructure.

There is no special maths employed by the present state government as claimed by Liang, as all these figures are verified, acknowledged and certified by the annual Auditor-General Reports. There is only clean and honest accounting. The public can judge who can be trusted to save the Malaysian economy and prevent our children’s future from being stolen.